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In the latest edition of the DoubleX Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, Hanna Rosin, and The New Yorker's Margaret Talbot discuss A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book.
Listen to the podcast here, or through iTunes. You can also become a fan of the DoubleX Gabfest on Facebook to discuss the show, and subscribe to the DoubleX Gabfest RSS feed. Emily suggests that you visit our sponsor, Audible.com, where you get a free book download when you sign up. She recommends downloading George Eliot's Middlemarch, which comes up in The Children's Book, or Eliot's Daniel Deronda.
Got questions or suggestions? E-mail us at podcasts@doublex.com.
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Comments
Delightful podcast for an engaging book
By: Kim Smuga | Thu, 11/05/2009 - 12:10
Thanks so much for choosing this book, and also for delaying the podcast. I just finished reading my library copy on Tuesday, so I was eager to hear other people's impressions. I've been thinking about various aspects and themes raised by Byatt.
One thing I keep coming back to is that Olive (and Humphry and Violet) are very invested in creating a lovely childhood for their brood, but are either not interested, or not capable, in guiding their children's lives beyond childhood. It's commented that they don't ignore or infantize their children, that they talk to them as adults, but that's about the extent of it.
It's most obvious in the children's education. They send Tom off to school with no real thought of what goes on there, and while they don't stand in the way of Dorothy's education, they have no clue on what steps she must take to achieve her goal.
I don't mean to hold them to today's standards of parenting, but other families, the Cains, and, surprisingly, the banker Wellwodes, do consider their children's future. And Byatt rewards them by preserving their children and families after WWII, while leaving Olive and Humphry's household in tatters.
I really felt bad for Olive at the end of the book, but there was a justice in her downfall.
Looking forward to seeing other people's thoughts.